This Is Your Brain on Sex

The Science Behind the Search for Love

Kayt Sukel

- 4.6 • 5 Ratings

- $9.99

- $9.99

Previously published as Dirty Minds: How Our Brains Influence Love, Sex, and Relationships.

PHILOSOPHERS, THEOLOGIANS, ARTISTS, AND BOY BANDS HAVE WAXED poetic for centuries about the nature of love. But what does the brain have to say about the way we carry our hearts? In the wake of a divorce, science writer and single mother Kayt Sukel made herself a guinea pig in the labs of some unusual love experts to find out. This Is Your Brain on Sex is her lively and hilarious examination of the big questions about love and sex, previously published in hardcover as Dirty Minds.

Each chapter of this edgy romp through the romantic brain looks at a different aspect of love above the belt. What in your brain makes you love someone—or simply lust after them? Why do good girls like bad boys? Is monogamy practical? How thin is that line between love and hate? After reading this gimlet-eyed look at love, sex, and the brain, you’ll never look at romance the same way again.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY DEC 5, 2011

Is love addictive? What roles do oxytocin, dopamine, serotonin, and testosterone play in our lives? What does the brain tell us about homosexuality? What parts of the brain control attraction, parental love, and faithfulness in relationships? Sukel leaves no stone unturned as she delves into the complex, cerebral world of relationships. Frequently citing both human MRI studies and animal research on dogs, monkeys, and monogamous prairie voles, Sukel has thoroughly researched this fascinating subject, examining even the most delicate topics such as her own experience as a subject in an MRI clinical study of orgasm with a frank, clinical tone, peppered with anecdotal stories and occasional humor. Although "here is no clever playbook for navigating love's messier situations," readers may find that science can explain some of their own experiences in attraction, parenting, and even heartbreak. Sukel's background in psychology allows her to discuss highly technical topics in a way that will be accessible to a broad audience, including armchair scientists and sociology buffs.

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